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Astronomy Libraries – Your Gateway to Information

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Astronomy Libraries – Your Gateway to Information Scientific Writing for Young Astronomers C. Sterken, Ed. EAS Publications Series (to be published) www.eas-journal.org ASTRONOMY LIBRARIES – YOUR GATEWAY TO INFORMATION Uta Grothkopf1 Abstract. This chapter reviews services offered by astronomy libraries for as- sisting astronomers in their research. Special attention is given to the two most important information tools in astronomy: the NASA Astrophysics Data Sys- tem (ADS) and the arXiv e-print server. Some less known features will be presented to lead to more efficient use of these tools. The core astronomy jour- nals are explained, along with the open access concept and how it interacts with existing journals. The chapter also provides an introduction to bibliomet- ric studies and shows why publication and citation statistics are important for both researchers and observatories. Finally, examples of cooperation between librarians and astronomers are presented in the context of working groups and conferences. 1 Introduction The world of libraries is changing fast. The times when they were simply repositories of printed documents are long gone, because preserving the astronomy legacy and being curators of historic documents is important, but is not the only challenge librarians meet today. In the internet era, librarians deliver services directly to the scienstist’s desktop, either by providing access to scientific journals and databases through assistance in us- ing specific information tools or simply by answering reference questions via email or messaging systems. Astronomy libraries are a good example of this changing paradigm, because the vast majority of information resources are available electronically, and most astronomers are used to, and actually prefer, online resources over printed formats. To use information efficiently, students and researchers need to acquire some basic skills. These can be divided into three parts. • Information literacy: We have a surplus of information rather than a shortage. Sci- entists have to be able to locate the texts that are important for their research, oth- erwise they may waste time with information they do not actually need. Effective 1 European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany, [email protected] c EDP Sciences 2011 DOI: (will be inserted later) 92 ScientificWritingforYoungAstronomers use of finding aids like library catalogs and reference works is called information literacy. • Computer literacy: A certain understanding of the hardware, software, and network technology is needed to access information tools from the office, from home, or from abroad. This knowledge is called computer literacy. • Critical thinking skills: Regardless of the medium (print or electronic, local or networked), no search result should be accepted without questioning its validity, correctness and completeness. Such critical thinking skills include common sense, as well as techniques for fully understanding a search result and putting it into context. The combination of information literacy, computer literacy, and critical thinking skills is defined as information fluency, as explained in Viele (2008). Librarians will help develop these techniques and thus make the most of the time spent on literature and information searches. 2 What librarians can do for you In today’s interconnected world, a large fraction of the scholarly resources in astronomy are available online. Latest preprintsare retrieved from the arXiv (astro-ph) e-print server, journal articles can be obtained via the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) abstract service, and communication with colleagues of course mostly takes place by email. When asked what information services they use in their daily work, scientists often do not im- mediately think of their library. Yet, most astronomers do use libraries, even though they may not always realize it. Start thinking of libraries not only as collections of printed books and journals, but also as gateways to electronic publications. Every time you download a recent journal article from the ADS, most probably you are allowed to do so because your library has paid the necessary subscription fee, negotiated access rights, and does the troubleshooting every time access is interrupted. Librarians also compile web pages with link collections that provide access to elec- tronic books, reference works, and databases. They help scientists discover new infor- mation retrieval systems and assist them in their research. To do this, librarians form professional networks to overcome the limited local resources and make use of joint col- lections, knowledge, and ideas provided by astronomy librarians worldwide. In many organizations, librarians are in charge of institutional repositories. They hold introductory sessions to explain how to deposit manuscripts in the repository, make sure all necessary metadata get submitted, and are often experts in copyright and Open Access (OA). They also maintain databases of all papers published by the organization’s scientists or, in the case of observatories, of those papers that use observational data from specific facilities. From these databases, statistics are derived and made available to man- agement, governing bodies, and the public. The library mission traditionally has been to fulfill the information needs of their users by selecting, collecting, preserving, and providing access to relevant resources. Grothkopf: Astronomy Libraries – your Gateway to Information 93 While many changes have occurred regarding the tools used in library management, this mission is still valid. In the digital age, personalized service, tailored to the needs of the library users, distinguishes libraries from software tools, see Grothkopf (2003). Increasingly, research libraries act as meeting places. They provide space for both informal and formal meetings, ranging from the “science coffee” that takes place every morning to regular discussion groups and formally organized talks and presentations. In- stead of the stereotypical quiet reading room, libraries often host collaborating scientists who appreciate the relaxed and inspiring atmosphere in the library. Similar to the virtual “Web 2.0” concept, the traditional library has been replaced, or rather supplemented, by the “Library 2.0” that offers web pages with library blogs, RSS feeds, and interactive tools for contacting the librarians. Of course, especially in small, specialized libraries like those that often can be found in observatories, the most interactive way of consulting librarians is still to simply meet and talk to them. They are happy to provide research assistance, help you with finding quality information resources and suggest all kinds of tips and tricks you may not have heard of. 3 Two astronomy gorillas Without doubt the majority of astronomers cover almost all their needs for scholarly in- formation using only two resources: the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and the arXiv.org e-print server. ADS and arXiv clearly are the “gorillas” among their peers as the largest, most important, most visible resources. And they are both free of charge to the individual astronomer, hence available to everybody, no matter whether affiliated with an institution or not, or regardless how wealthy that institution is. In the following, we briefly introduce both services and point out some features for using them efficiently. 3.1 NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) The NASA ADS abstract service is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observa- tory (SAO) under a NASA grant. The main site is at http://adsabs.harvard.edu1, with several mirror sites located around the world. It is the largest digital library in astronomy, providing links to more than 7 million records in astronomy, astrophysics, and physics, and it is used almost daily by the majority of astronomers. Access to subscription-based publications (including the two or three most recent years of the core astronomy journals) is granted only if the user or his/her institutionsubscribes to that pub- lication. For the years 1975 through approximately 1995, the abstracts database contains data from a variety of sources; since 1995, most abstracts have been provided directly by publishers or journal editors. These references should be 100% complete. With less completeness depending on the subject area, but still at a high rate, ADS also provides information about older literature and, in many cases, offers links to scanned articles back to volume 1 of the most important astronomy journals. In addition to published literature, 1ADS main search screen: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract service.html 94 ScientificWritingforYoungAstronomers ADS provides information about preprints posted on arXiv.org. Preprints can be retrieved via the ADS the same day they become available on arXiv, so that there is no delay in finding the most recent postings. ADS receives information about publications from a variety of sources, most notably directly from publishers on or even before the publication date, as well as from the arXiv preprint database. ADS users can query the database for immediate results or subscribe to themyADS service to receive regular notificationsabout new publicationsthat correspond to search criteria set by the user. 3.1.1 Some search tips The ADS main search screen is mostly self-explanatory. However, there are some fea- tures users do not necessarily know about. Some of them are explained below, and they have been available in the ADS since January 2009. Since the ADS is continuously being developed and
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